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Rivers change their natural state constantly. What the guy or group did shouldn't be criminal insomuch as it only takes one storm to cut a new channel. I take issue with government putting the lives of little birds and mounds of dirt over the lives of its citizens and their livelihoods.

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Yea, but remember that it is a public park. It’s not that guy’s property to mess with.

Is he not a member of the public?

Sure, but if we're going to have any public property at all -- roads, buildings, parks, whatever -- surely we need some sort of democratic process to manage them, not "whoever has the strongest shovel gets to remake the land in their image"?

I can't just go out to Yellowstone with an axe and make myself a nice meadow to relax in, divert a nearby stream to make it more convenient, dig a big ol' cesspool and then scream IT'S MY LAND TOO! I mean, that'd make a pretty entertaining YouTube episode, but I would expect a small fine...

IMO a criminal charge does seem a bit heavy-handed for this. They should've just made him shovel it all back, lol; that would've been punishment enough.

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